Brown 10 tbsp butter about 2 minutes after melting until dark golden brown and nutty smelling. Add the other 4 tbsp butter and melt.
Whisk the sugars, salt, and vanilla together. Add the egg and yolk and mix. Let it sit 3 min, then whisk for 30 seconds again, then wait 3 min and whisk 30 seconds again. Maybe one more time. Should be thick, smooth, and shiny.
Stir in flour and baking soda mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
Divide into 16 cookies, bake one tray at a time, 10-14 min.

Dan's note: I'd make them smaller, these are huge. Maybe 32 cookies? They say the bigger cookies have a good mix of chewy and crispy. But man, they're too big.

Soak the kala vatana overnight. Drain well. Cook them: if you have a pressure cooker, combine the drained kala vatana and 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 4 whistles. Otherwise just cook them for a while.

Grind the paste ingredients together, set aside.

Add the pumpkin, 1 cup of water and salt, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 8 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
Add the prepared paste, mix gently and cook on a medium flame for 3 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Keep aside.

For the tempering, heat the oil in small pan and add the mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves and sauté on a medium flame for a few seconds
Pour this tempering over the curry and mix well.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chettttinad masala ingredients till you get a roasted aroma. Keep aside.

Soak the poppy seeds and cashew nuts in hot water for 5 minutes.
Drain, add the ginger and garlic and grind with the roasted chettinad masala and ¼ cup water to make a fine paste. Keep aside.
Heat the oil in a kadhai, add the onions and saute till the onions turn translucent.
Add the tomatoes, salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder and cook till the tomatoes are well blended with the masala and the oil separates from the sides.
Add the ground paste and curry leaves and saute for 2 minutes.
Add 1 cup of water and vegetables,cover and cook till the gravy thickens.
Add the coconut milk, mix well and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Dan's Recipes

Despite the plethora of recipe software out there, the one that does what I want (tagging, text searching, and indefinite web hosting) is actually Blogger. So here I am. This is not a food blog so much as my recipe archive, which you're free to peruse if you like.